The Lope

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Happy Mardi Gras!

Ace Jackalope wishes you a happy and safe Mardi Gras.

We dug up some New Orleans cemetery photos from 2001, today. These are of the probable tomb of Marie Laveau in Saint Louis cemetery #1.

As you probably know, many early cemeteries in New Orleans were above ground; they had to be; coffins in conventional burials rose to the surface in the unstable soil. The lowest chamber in the tomb above is the "receiving vault". Its function was to hold the remains of people who had disintegrated after being interred in the top two chambers. In the hot, humid climate of New Orleans, this took less than a year.

Many details of her life are uncertain, but Marie Laveau is generally thought to have been born about 1794 of a white planter and a black woman in the French Quarter of New Orleans. She married a free black man who soon disappeared under mysterious circumstances. After that, she had a long-term lover until his death.

Her path to fame was her brand of voodoo, probably a mix of Roman Catholicism and African beliefs. She was also politically and socially quite savvy. As a hairdresser she networked quite well and was privy to many secrets.

Marie Laveau was reported to have died in 1881, according to New Orleans newspapers.Then, the story gets more interesting. She was reportedly seen by people after her death.

The probable explanation is that one of her daughters, a near look-alike, assumed her name and magical profession after her demise.

By most accounts, she is buried in this crypt in Saint Louis Cemetery #1 in New Orleans. Visitors wishing the favor of Marie Laveau draw three crosses, "XXX", on the crypt, a practice discouraged by cemetery officials and even modern practicioners of voodoo.

There is even a website with instructions on how to ask Laveau to grant a wish using a printout of a picture on the site.

A quite thorough and entertaining account of her life can be found here, along with tales of modern hauntings.

Oh, here are some doors. I know you didn't ask for any, but this picture was handy so I'm throwing it in. It was somewhere in the French Quarter but I didn't take notes on things back then like I do now for the Route 66 stuff.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

A 'Lope in the City of Angels - LA Route 66

Ace Jackalope enters the City of Angels on Route 66 and takes to the streets in his trenchcoat. He decides that the Tiki Theater, 5462 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, is not tiki after all, except for the sign, which comes complete with gang graffiti. It doesn't even have a "live nude show"; it's just a sad little urban porn theater.I couldn't find much on the history of the Tiki Theater; one comment at cinematreasures.org, a website dedicated to classic theaters, suggests it used to be a silent film theater while another says it is a "store front theater" - a theater not built as such but converted from another use. A post to tikicentral.com reports the Tiki Theater shows up in a video game called Grand Theft Auto San Andreas; The video capture in the post even shows the graffiti in the right places. A Los Angeles blog recommends it as a place to take a date. I'm not sure there is enough Purell in the world for that.A note on my descriptions of place for anything in LA: In researching buildings in LA, I found that an address often has more than one listing of place: i.e. "Los Angeles" in one description and "Hollywood" in another. To clarify this, I am entering zip codes in the USPS website to determine how to describe a location. Apparently, places like Hollywood exist as generally recognized districts, often with indefinate borders, and are not legal entities as towns would be. Whenever possible, I am going with the more specific district name because...well, its just more fun to type "Hollywood" than "Los Angeles."

Moving on west to West Hollywood, C.P. Three Prop House, at the corner of Bronson and Santa Monica Blvd, displays four huge replica moai, available to rent for your next Easter Island epic.

"Moai" is a term which describes the giant stone heads found on Easter Island; the island is called "Rapa Nui" by its indigenous inhabitants.

According to James Teitelbaum in his book, "Tiki Road Trip", these moai were made for a "Laverne and Shirley" reunion special, but they were not used. An employee told me they were used in an Eddie Murphy movie, though he didn't know which one. The building is owned by Omega Cinema Props; it is used primarily for storage of large outdoor props and furniture.

You can see the Hollywood sign in the distance, at right.

Contrary to what TV enthusiasts might assume, Dan Tana's restaurant, 9071 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, is not named after Robert Urich's character on "Vega$". The producers of the TV show liked the name and got permission from the restaurant to use it. If you like celebrities, this might be the place to go.

Route 66 cuts along the south side of Beverly Hills.

Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills, CA is the oldest tiki bar remaining on Route 66. Although its address is in the Beverly Hilton at 9876 Wilshire Blvd., the bar itself fronts Santa Monica Blv., hence the Rt66 connection. You can park in the hotel lot but its expensive and at the other end of the building from the bar; or, you can use valet parking.

"So, what's this 'tiki' thing?", I am sometimes asked. This is not surprising since, judging from the slant of the email I receive, most of my readers are Route 66 afficianados and the only tiki bar left on Rt66 is this one. "Tiki" describes a sort of idealized Polynesia...Oceanic pagan statues, grass huts, "exotica" music, etc. The advent of air service to Hawaii and its later inclusion as a state, lusty James Michener novels set in the South Pacific, Thor Heyerdahl's real-life voyage on the Kon Tiki, WWII soldiers returning from the Pacific, desire for escapism from a drab world...all of these things contributed to the rise of a style that would reach maturity with the inclusion of pagan-ish statues, popularly called "tikis", in the mid-20th century. Tiki isn't archeology or sociology, though......Tiki is fantasy; it's a mix of imagery that is occasionally dead-on but more often portrayed Polynesian culture about as well as Gunsmoke portrayed the old west or Flash Gordon foreshadowed the Apollo program. That inaccuracy doesn't matter to its afficianados, though; they accept and embrace it as part of the appeal. Author Sven Kirsten in his "The Book of Tiki" coined the term "Polynesian pop" for all of this.

Although tiki was quite the thing in the mid-20th century, it waned back in the late 1960's when grass huts reminded one more of Pnom Penh than paradise. (I wonder if it'd be similar to trying to sell an Arabian Knights theme right now.) By the 1980's it was quite rare to see a tiki-themed establishment and a density map would show the only dark spot as Southern California. In the past few years there has been a revival of tiki popularity, thus, the trappings of an elusive paradise are as close as the local Spencers and Target stores.

A common element of tiki architecture was the upswept A-frame which was adapted from Polynesian and South Sea cultures. This trend coincided with the popularity of "googie" or space-age architecture, which often employed similar upswept forms.

Polynesian cultures often used carved representations of gods. "Tikis" in tiki bars were sometimes authentic representations from these cultures, but were more often fanciful adaptations. The one outside Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills is rather plain, if you ask me; I'll have better examples in the coming weeks as I post other LA tiki establishments, but for now, more elaborate examples can be found at Kon Tiki in Tucson, AZ.

This Trader Vic's, built in 1955, is part of the chain by the same name that was founded by Victor Bergeron in the 1930's. Bergeron was in interesting character; after visiting other South Sea-themed establishments, he re-christened his restaurant, Hinky Dinks, into Trader Vic's...and re-invented himself in the process. Thus, a wooden leg gotten as the result of childhood tuberculosis became the outcome of a battle with a shark.

One of Bergeron's claims to fame is the invention of the Mai Tai, a rum-based drink staple of tiki enthusiasts. If you order one today, be sure to have it "made the old way" to get the vintage, authentic recipe.

Once upon a time, Trader Vic's sold Mai Tai rum in one of the coolest containers that ever held anything; it was called "Mai Tai Joe" but that name was little-known to recent-year collectors who nicknamed it the "suffering bastard" decanter, after a drink served at Trader Vic's.

Trader Vic's still sells tiki mugs along with your drinks, but nothing like this.

Many tiki bars served drinks in custom mugs. This older Trader Vic's specimen is not, strictly speaking, a tiki mug as it has no tikis on it, but it does have a strong element of Polynesian pop - a man relaxing in the presence of barrels of rum and scantily clad women. I doubt many American men actually experienced this.For the past few years, tiki mugs have been popular enough as a collectible that they are manufactured new and sold as a product in and of themselves, no longer needing any association with a particular bar.

Swizzle sticks were often utilized as advertising by bars, and tiki bars were no exception. Trader Vic's has long used the "Menehune" as a symbol. In Hawaiian lore, Menehunes were mythological beings analogous to faeries. At Trader Vic's, they were trinkets to sell drinks, and still are. I got these swizzles there this past August.

This was quite a bit more upscale than any tiki-themed establishment we'd visited previously. I took a couple of pictures inside but was immediately, though politely, told to put the camera away. I saw only one tiki inside, but my look around was brief. A very well-dressed couple who had emerged from a limosine seemed alarmed when they saw my camera; I guess they have a problem with paparazzi here. Author James Teitelbaum advises: "If you come for dinner, remember that you are in Beverly Hills. You will be expected to show up dressed nicely; your Aloha shirt will not be considered festive." He's right, I think; judging from the dress I saw inside. Ironically, I was wearing a shirt with a pattern representing classic Trader Vic's tiki mugs.

This particular Trader Vic's was once owned by Merv Griffin and is another place one might be prone to see celebrities, especially vintage ones. An amusing account of a Trader Vic's dining experience can be read here. If you are of a mind to visit this Trader Vics, you might want to do so soon; I've seen no authoritative sources to back it, but there is a rumour that the Hollywood Hilton wants to tear it down and build a highrise tower in its place.

Aloha from Ace, known in some circles as "Tikijackalope."

These last few pictures were taken from a moving car; by this point in the trip we had other priorities and were dealing with LA traffic as we drove the last few western miles of route 66. These signs at 10423 Santa Monica Blvd in West LA are prime examples of signage that used to be really cool, but are only moderately so in their current states. Currently, the building houses Bel Air Caviar.

This building was blindingly white and when I researched it, it turned out to be Mormon, of course. It is the Los Angeles temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 10741 Santa Monica Blvd., dedicated in 1956.

Royal Santa Monica Motel, 10811 Santa Monica Blvd., West LA, seems to be one of the less expensive motels in its area at $55 per night, single occupancy.

Do all the guys who pull shopping carts on the street have cell phones here?

The NuArt theater 11272 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Los Angeles, CA, is a very active and well-spoken-of art house film theater.

This apparent soda fountain on Santa Monica Blvd looks like a subject for a future visit.

The sign for The Village Motel, 2624 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, isn't spectacular, but it was above par for the backlit plastic banality of the area.It is worth noting that, as far as elaborate neon signage along Route 66, I think there is more of the really big, cool stuff in towns like Gallup, NM, than there is in all of LA proper. That isn't to say LA is devoid of cool googieness - quite the opposite, in fact. There is still plenty, despite the evils of sign ordinances and such, it's just that most of it isn't on Santa Monica Blvd., which was Route 66 in LA. We visited a few LA-area googie and tiki sites, and I'll post those in the coming weeks. Wait til you some of the mid-century architecture!

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Rt 66 in outer LA: Neon Jewels in the Suburban Sprawl

They're not suburbs, exactly, but you'd never know it. Route 66 changed after we reached the San Bernardino/Rialto area; it is now one long sprawl of businesses, mostly relatively new ones. If you are in love with the wide open spaces of the mother road east of here, you'd best have a meal at the Summit Inn or stay a night at the Wigwam Motel and then turn back.

But if you are open-minded and willing to drive quite a while to see that cool neon sign or an eatery the locals rave about, keep going. You'll even see echos of the history of this area in the place-names, many of which are taken from old rancheros.

This next post of Route 66 pictures was shot August 4th and 5th, 2005, while back-tracking from LA. Some of them were done in a relatively leisurely fashion (5-minute stops here and there) while others were shot on the fly from a moving car at dusk, in traffic and with a digital camera that has the usual delay. Its not easy to drive or navigate and shoot pictures too, or reasonable to ask one's friends to go around the block, find a parking place or let me out and circle to pick me up again. Still, they did it anyway a few times. I'm just lucky that way.

Even Ace stayed in the car for most of this stretch, having discovered that we would stop for neither food nor beautiful women.

The pictures vary widely in quality, but they *are* all views along Route 66, and as such, may be useful for planning your own trip. Regardless of when they were actually shot, I have arranged them in a linear east-to-west fashion as if one were driving from Rialto to outer LA.

Sometimes the contrast between "old" route 66 and "new" route 66 is surreal. Case in point: the last orange juice stand. Time was, citrus farms dominated this region and orange juice stands dotted the sides of the mother road. There is one left, and it's in Fontana. We knew that; we looked for it. We missed it.

Why?

Because it now resides in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart supercenter, thats why...too surreal, even for me. But, we did get a good taste of what Route 66 still has to offer in the way of architecture and signage in the vast suburban sprawl that is the outer Los Angeles area.

There's nothing like a dinosaur to catch one's attention from the road. These big metal ones are at Route 66 Memories, 10150 Foothill Blvd, Rancho Cucamonga, CA. We just drove by, but their website says the business is family owned and operated by Rosa and Gilbert Ramos in a century-old restored house. Aside from dinos, they carry artwork, antique mission-style furniture, Rt 66 memorabilia and a few wooden tikis.

Being from Kansas, the New Kansan Motel sign in Rancho Cucamonga caught my eye.

Is this a reconnaissance photo of an Imperial tracking station on the planet Endor? (Sorry...geek Star Wars reference there)

No, it's ivy-covered Carl's Liquor and Mart and The Deli in Rancho Cucamonga.

Now here's a place I wish we'd have explored...one of those "shoot it now, research it later" cases.The Magic Lamp Inn at 8189 Foothill Blvd. in Rancho Cucamonga, CA is labeled a "Retro Pit Stop" by Frommers: "...consider the Magic Lamp Inn, 8189 Foothill Blvd., open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Friday and dinner only on Saturday and Sunday. Built in 1957, the Magic Lamp offers excellent Continental cuisine (nothing nouvelle about Route 66!) in a setting that's part manor house and part Aladdin theme park. Dark, stately dining rooms lurk behind a funky banquette cocktail lounge punctuated by a psychedelic fountain/fire pit and a panoramic view. The genie-bottle theme is everywhere, from the restaurant's dinnerware to the plush carpeting, which would be right at home in a Las Vegas casino. Lovers of kitsch and hearty retro fare shouldn't pass this one up."

On to Glendora, a town that was named by one of its large land owner's after the "glen" behind his house and his wife, "Ledora." I've read that, despite a recent exterior remodel, the Golden Spur at 1223 E. Route 66 in Glendora, is over 80 years old. Its a conventional steak and seafood place now, but it began as a ride-up hamburger stand for equestrian enthusiasts. I just know it has a really cool neon sign.

The Palm Tropics Motel, 619 W Alosta Ave (Rt66), Glendora, CA is credited on some websites as being very well maintained.

The Hat World Famous Pastrami has ten locations. This one is at 611 West Route 66 in Glendora; I don't know if it actually dates from 1951 or if that just refers to the chain, but I loved the sign. If I'm ever back this way, I really want to try the pastrami, based on reviews like this one, this one and this one.

I just saw the Oak Park Motel, 925 E Huntington Dr, Monrovia, CA out the car window and took a quick picture. It is now listed online under apartment rentals so it may not be a motel anymore. In many towns, this would be the coolest neon sign around.

I couldn't find out much about Rod's Grill, 41 W. Huntington Dr. in Arcadia, CA. It's another case of stopping to shoot a sign and blasting onward.The building looks like a possible 1950's or 60's coffee shop; it had closed for the night when we drove by. Update: Route 66 News has brought to wider attention an article at San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group's sgvtribune.com which mentions that Rod's Grill is in danger of being seized by the city of Arcadia via eminent domain in order that a car dealership might expand.

This is no ordinary Denny's. The chain diner at the corner of Santa Anita and Huntington streets was originally a Van de Kamp's coffee shop and retains the neon windmill on the roof.

The neon sign for the Original Whistle Stop is a case of something that was satisfying to photograph, but even more interesting when I researched it later. It dates from 1951 and was at a previous location of the store. When the business moved to this location at 2490 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA in 1988, the city councel labelled the sign an "eye sore" and refused to allow it to be installed.The situation was remedied when the Pasadena Cultural Heritage Foundation helped the sign to be named as a California Cultural Historical Landmark, which cleared the way for its installation.

I found the Hiway Host Motel, 3474 E. Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, CA, on a couple of consumer motel rating sites, but no reviews were listed for it. The sign had a neat shape which does not show up in this night shot.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

The Last Wigwam

I previously wrote quite a bit about the history of the wigwam motels when I stayed at the one in Holbrook, AZ May 17, July 31 and August 1 of 2005, the last being just a few days before this. I'd also stayed at the one in Cave City Kentucky two years before. I was very eager to finish my collection of Wigwam Motel stays with this one on August 3rd and 4th of 2005.

This was the last Wigwam Motel built by the founder of the small chain, Kentuckian Frank Redford. He sold his motels in Cave City, KY, and retired here in Rialto where he build Wigwam Motel #7 - his last. I've seen the date of construction listed as 1953 and 1949, as on the sign. When built, this patch of land was in San Bernardino, but at some point the border changed, at least according to the post office, which has it at 2728 W. Foothill Boulevard, Rialto, CA.

They are technically called teepees because they are conical, not round like a wigwam.The slogan "Have you slept in a TeePee Lately?" is a recent replacement for...

...DO IT IN A TEE PEE. Yes, for a long time, this place was the red-headed stepchild of the other two Wigwam Motels that remain of the original seven. Enthusiasts of such novel lodging would say "There's one in Holbook and one in Cave City...oh, and maybe one more in California, but its sleazy." Redford died in 1958 and by the 1970's the motel was known for hourly rates. That began to change in 2002, when Jagedish and Ramila Patel bought the Wigwam for just under one million dollars and, along with their son Manoj, fixed up both the motel and its image. I'm glad they left this old sign attached to a shed behind the dwellings; it was a nice nod to history.

I understand the transformation has been dramatic. The place is now clean and well cared for. In a classic case of the benefits of researching travel on the internet as well as in the bookstore, many of the Route 66 books have not caught up to this change, but it is well covered in websites.

We actually arrived after dark; just like owners at the two other Wigwam Motels, this one was nice about staying later to check us in on a night they were fully booked. I didn't walk around shooting a lot of pictures; although the place seemed pretty safe, there was a lot of activity - groups of young men coming and going - and a woman in a nearby teepee told me her's had been broken into. I'm not sure I believe her; when I suggested she call the police she became reticent. That being said, I think this place was at the nicer end of the dicey spectrum for mid-price motels in the Rialto/San Bernardino area.

The units lack lights atop the teepees like they have in Holbrook, or the central fluorescent yardlights, as in Cave City, but they have nice lamp posts.

How fitting that on our first morning in California we'd have a palm tree shadow on our tee pee.

The furnishings here stood in stark contrast to those in Holbrook, and Cave City. This was all new decor, whereas those had been composed largely of original furniture that looked more "woody." Given the previous reputation of the place, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the original furniture was trashed long ago.

There was a phone here, like in Holbrook and unlike Cave City.

In just a hint of a hold-over from the previous era, there was a porn channel on the TV.

Bathrooms at all three Wigwam Motels have showers, but not tubs.

Wouldn't it be cool if, at some motel or another, there were marks on the wall that allowed the light coming through the peephole to be like a solar calendar?

This was our first view of smog - not something we are used to seeing along Route 66.

The office of this Wigwam Motel is a fairly "normal" sized teepee, unlike Cave City, which has a huge one, or Holbrook, which tore down the original office/teepee and replaced it with a rectangular building. In the distance, down Foothill Drive (Rte 66 in Rialto) you can see the bowling sign I wrote about in the last Route 66 entry.

The owners have some decent RT66 decor in the office, but no place-specific souvenirs for sale unless you count a postcard of the place by artist R. Waldmire that is also sold at other Rt66 businesses.

Unlike the other Wigwam Motels, this one has a pool.

And the pool is kidney-shaped, no less.

There's at least one outdoor grill.

And they bothered to make a bit of its decor thematic.

I'm not sure how old the Indian is...probably not original, I would guess.

Unlike Cave City, which has a single huge half-circle of teepees, and Holbrook, which has a them arranged on three sides of a lot, the nineteen teepee dwellings here are in one semi-circle and two partial outer ones, flanking the inner one. I suppose this was a more economical usage of the land, one way in which this site is more urban than the other two.

This offered some nice views.

The inner ring of teepees faces a well-manicured grass lawn.

The outer teepees face the common asphalt driveway that allows one parking space beside each teepee. It also faces the backs of the inner ring. I'd consider the inner ring more desirable...less noise, better view.

Its difficult to explain the appeal of a Wigwam Motel, except to say that they are simply fun. Quoth one of my travel companions: "Anytime you CAN sleep in a wigwam, you should."

Monday, February 13, 2006

Happy Valentine's Day!

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Twilight Zone on Route 66 - Victorville to Rialto

A Joshua tree seen along RT66 south of Victorville looks like a dancing Kachina.August 4, 2005 - the sixth day of our Joplin to LA road trip. We'd been on Route 66 whenever possible since entering California. Rt66 is largely two-lane here and is mostly buried under Interstate 15. Scenery here is courtesy of the San Gabriel Mountains.

We'd heard about the Summit Inn at Cajon Pass, a Route 66 (now I-15) restaurant that has been here since 1952. The business itself is older than that; the previous building was on an earlier routing of Route 66.

This building is beside I-15, which largely covers old Route 66 at this point. There is, however, a short stretch of the old road near the building. Access is from the Oak Hills exit.

The Summit Inn seems to draw regulars as well as tourists. The place, though very authentic, also has a lot of the modern RT66 nostalgia decor...maybe a little *too* much, as it seems a little overdone. Oh well, I suppose that a business owner along the old road may need to continually reinforce that association for the sake of the casual tourist who doesn't know the history of what they've just walked into.

Although the Summit Inn is noted for buffalo and ostrich meat, we see a lot of that in Kansas so we opted for more conventional cuisine. It was basic, but good and filling after a hard day's work of sitting in a car seat and jumping out occasionally to walk around a bit with a camera that weighed almost 1/2 pound...exhausting, really.

The deserts were good too.

But the memorable things about the Summit Inn were the penny-operated fortune-telling napkin holders.

Each machine is a chrome plated gateway to... The Twilight Zone.The Twilight Zone, for those of you too young to remember, was a 1950's and 60's Sci-fi/fantasy TV series hosted by Rod Serling (above).

In "Nick of Time", an episode written by noted sci-fi author Richard Matheson, William Shatner becomes obsessed with a fortune-telling napkin holder in a small town cafe.

The machine in the TV show is thought by Twilight Zone aficionados to have been a studio-modified version of "Ask Swami", made by by F.E. Erickson, in North Sacramento CA during the mid-20th century. Some versions dispensed one's fate on little cards, like the one on the TV show.

While others, like the ones at the Summit Inn, showed the answer in a window when a lever was pulled down.

Summit Inn has at least two versions with different graphics. This is another one.

The "Ask Swami" graphic deserves a closer look.

The Twilight Zone version had very similar questions.

If those who study the TV show in detail are right, The Twilight Zone's prop department added a shell around the device and a devil's head on top. The actual production versions had no topper at all; we felt slighted.

Ace Jackalope improvised for us.

Cajon Pass itself has quite a place in the history of travel to and from California. Native Americans had used it for centuries before Spanish and Anglo explorers found it, and it was the southern end of the Old Spanish Trail to Santa Fe, New Mexico, back in the early 19th century. A 12-mile toll road was built through the pass in 1861 and linked San Bernardino and cities on the coast to the booming mining communities of the Mojave desert.

Cajon Pass enabled rail travel in the 1880's. Route 66 succeeded the old trails over Cajon Pass in the 1920's; portions of it in this area were divided, which was unusual at the time.Railfans, people who watch, photograph or model railroads, love the Cajon Pass.It really reminds me of a big model railroad in this view, shot from our car as we travelled I-15 over the old path of Route 66.

Between the Cajon Pass and San Bernardino, there are occasional patches of older Rt66 pavement to be seen.

The path of Route 66 through San Bernardino is not always savory. Along with the usual beautiful works of neon sign manufacturers past, there is a feeling of decrepitude here and there, and people hanging around some of the properties can really look threatening when you stick a camera out of the car window.

According to a an online story I found from the San Bernardino Sun, dated August 22, 2004, the remnants of the El Cajon Motel in San Bernardino are owned by Bruce VonFaulstich, who has had a few problems with local code enforcement. I just hope they don't make him remove this sign.

The Palms Motel, San Bernardino.

The Lido Motel, San Bernardino. The Palms, Lido, Sharene and Oasis are all listed in an online guide to motels at a ski website, but it has no reviews posted for any of them.

Sharene Motel, San Bernardino, CA

Holiday Inn Motel, San Bernardino, CA.

Motel Oasis, San Bernardino, CA.

San Bernardino Motel at 2528 Foothill Blvd has a very nice "space age" sign. I missed part of it due to shooting the pic from a moving car...oh well, can't stop everywhere.

The El Rey Motel is variously listed in web sources as being in San Bernardino or Rialto.

The sign for Ned's Oil & Stuff along Foothill in Rialto, CA points to a large automotive store.

Las Playas has several locations; this one is in Rialto. It looks like the neon sign has a flame effect.

The Orange Bowl is very near our next destination, the Wigwam Motel. The bowling alley at the corner of Foothill and Pepper on Route 66 had been closed for at least ten years and changed hands as recently as February of 2002. I don't know what it sold for or what they plan to do with it, but the asking price for the parcel of land on which it stands was $1,050,000.

Monday, February 06, 2006

"Here are a host of signs you may see" - California Route 66 Museum

Ace discovers many wonderous things, like this Green Spot Motel sign, at the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville, CA.It was August 4, 2005, the sixth day of our Joplin to LA roadtrip. It was raining in Victorville, CA and we made a spontaneous stop at the museum.

A major attraction of the museum is its collection of Hula Ville artifacts. Hula Ville, also seen spelled as "Hulaville" and "Hula-Ville", was the creation of Miles Mahan, who, starting in 1956, turned his small patch of the Mojave desert along Route 66 roughly near Herperia, CA, into a site that would eventually be listed in the registry of Califonia State Landmarks as an example of 20th century folk art. He decorated the land with bottles, signs scavanged from other sites, signs he painted with his own sayings, and other found objects. The cowboy below was originally the welcome sign for the Hesperia Businessman's Association.Mahan was a retired carny - a career guess-your-weight man - who lived in a trailer without plumbing or electricity even though newspaper reports classified him as "wealthy." He reportedly lived on eggs, roadkill rabbits and, possibly, wine. He collected the many bottles that were strewn on his land and mounted them with nails onto fence posts which he called his "Cactus Garden", an example of which is shown below. Near Oro Grande there is a folk art site which may have been inspired by Hula Ville.

What was his motivation? I have read that he built Hulaville as a tribute to fallen hobo friends to whom he dedicated signs in a sort of Boot Hill Cemetary. Some of his memorialized friends were: Rubber Tramp Ralph, Steam Train Wagner and Shoot Em up Charlie. If you want a real treat, listen this 1993 sound portrait of Miles Mahan at Hula Ville by National Public Radio reporter David Isay.

Two years after that interview, in 1995, Mayhan moved to a rest home and Hula Ville began to deteriorate. Fortunately, museum volunteers disassembled the site and the museum currently displays a good chunk of Hula Ville. Miles Mayhan died in 1997 at the age of 100, but Hula Ville, in bits and pieces, lives on.

This hula girl sign was salvaged by Mahan from a Polynesian restaurant that had discarded it. It was the centerpiece of Hula Ville. "If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here", he said in the interview with Isay. The sign is twelve feet tall, and various reports I've read say it was 14 or 16 feet tall when it was mounted in Hula Ville.The photo above shows the sign in place at Hula Ville; at right you can see a photo of Mahan from a collection posted in the museum.Museum volunteer Steve Anderson built a 1/25 scale model of Hula Ville (above, on display case) based on photographs. He says the construction took him 2 1/2 months and 23 tubes of Super Glue. To simulate the bottles Mahan used, Anderson sharpened dowel rods in a pencil sharpener and painted them green for Mountain Rhine or bronze for Hearty Burgundy.Anderson also made the cars, a 1958 Impala, a 1941 Plymouth, a 1932 Ford Highboy Roadster and a 1955 Chevy two-door sedan.The Joshua Tree was made from pipe cleaners, masking tape and branches from an artificial Christmas tree.Hula Ville is gone now...but one can still get a feel for it, thanks to the efforts of people who didn't wait too long to preserve its quirky charm.Mahan was also a poet; at the end of the tours he gave of Hula Ville, he would sometimes ask visitors if they wanted to buy a book of his poetry. He is also known to have read to visitors sometimes. This is his poem, Hulaville:

"Yea so welcome are all of theeTo this museum so full with gleeHere are a host of signs you may seeSo cleverly painted by old Mile-zee."

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans lived in Victorville for many years. After their deaths, the Roy Rogers Museum moved from Victorville to Branson, MO, but Rogers is still identified with this community.

A vintage 7-UP sign recalls a more psychodelic era.

A collection of old pedal cars is set against reproduction Burma-Shave signs.

Chick Kirk, President of the California Route 66 Museum (left), and volunteer Paul Chassey answered questions about where we'd been as well as where we were going. They also sold us some inexpensive new Rt66-themed luggage cheap that we're using to this day.

Next post: On your way from Victorville to Rialto, stop at the Summit Inn and learn your fortune.

Friday, February 03, 2006

Barstow to Victorville - Last of the Desolate Miles

Ace Jackalope pauses momentarily at a folk art site along route 66 north of Oro Grande, California, on August 4, 2005.

Often present on our journey since between Albuquerque and Grants, NM, a BNSF mainline train labors foreward on tracks laid over fields of sage brush.

Rt66 is called the National Old Trails Highway through much of California; The National Old Trails Highway pre-dates 66, and follows the countours of old trails. We didn't know it yet, but this stretch is about the last one on which Rt66 felt like the 66 we knew and loved...wide open and strewn with faded glory.

What would a desert be without a bottle farm?

This one - the same one seen with Ace, at top - is north of Oro Grande a few miles.

When I first posted this entry on Feb 3, 2006, I had no idea who the bottle artist was. In April of that year, Route 66 News informed its readers that the bottle man has a blog. The man's name is Elmer Long; go take a look.

It was nice to see a last gasp of desert eccentricity before Rt66 began to morph into city streets.

Until recent years, this area was home to other bottle sculptures at a place called "Hula Ville" or "Mahan's Half-Acre"...more about it when we get to Victorville.

Political comment or tribute?

Sometimes it seems like the railroad mainlines are like a thread that interweaves with Route 66 to stitch so many of these places together...La Posada to the Wigwam Motel to here.

A sculpture, filled with empty 2-liter bottles, swings in the wind.

The bottle farm furnished a welcome splash of color on our route.

This is the ruin of Potapov's Service Station and Auto Court. Bill Potapov came here in 1943 and sold Douglass gasoline. He also apparently collected car radios, spare tires and bumpers as collateral for credit. The buildings pre-date Potapov's arrival and, according to a flyer distributed by the Barstow Route 66 "Mother Road" Museum, may have been build by a man named Guy Wadsworth.

I don't know what it is, but the grafitti artists sure like it.

The Iron Hog Saloon was seen in the movie, Erin Brochovich. The building dates from 1931 and hosted several businesses before this one.

The Riverside Cement Company in Oro Grande is a main industry of the region. A friend familiar with the area tells me that everything for quite a ways around is covered with cement dust.

I have not idea what this building north of Victorville had hosted, but it'd been awhile since I'd seen any googie, so I shot it.

A 1930 steel truss bridge croses the Mojave river at Victorville. Note the cool ornate rails.

The Lone Yucca Apartments in Victorville is an ex-motel, I presume.

Emmajeans Holland Burger Cafe in Victorville is the home of the "Brian Burger." What that is, I don't know...but I probably want one.

Victorville is obviously proud of its Route 66 heritage.

The New Corral Motel dates from 1953 or 54 and is for sale; the asking price is $1,675,000.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Not so Anchored

The Anchor Inn, a well-established and much-patronized Mexican restaurant in Hutchinson, KS, suffered damage today when part of the facade unexpectedly fell onto the sidewalk this morning between 10AM and 11AM; nobody was injured. As of 6PM this evening, fire department employees said that the structure had not yet been examined to ascertain the cause of the problem; the restaurant will be closed until further notice.UPDATE, Feb 5, Anchor Inn has now re-opened.

The Anchor Inn occupies three linked buildings on the north-east corner of Avenue B and Main Street in Hutchinson. The problem seems to be confined to the center section.